God of War (PS2) | The Path of Hades
Cheap? Don't be so weak. Legions of exasperated gamers whined that Kratos' escape from the bowels of Hell - complete with rotating columns of bladey cartilage, platforms of bone and two huge towers of spinning blades - was 'stupid', 'cheap' or 'toohardIwantmymummy!' but we loved it. The combat is uber-tough, the towers of spinning blades unforgiving, the platforming sections nail-biting, and the sense of achievement is massive. Sorry, but did anyone think that cheating death itself would be a cakewalk? Quit the whining and suck up the pain, people, because this section is perfect.
God of War II (PS2) | Atlas
If there was one thing that God of War II did especially well, it was creating a convincing sense of massive scale - and nowhere did it do that better than in the Atlas stage. After a miles-long fall (most of which was spent beating the crap out of Icarus for his wings) Kratos finds himself near the center of the Earth, where he comes face to face with the Titan Atlas. Actually, that's not quite true; before Kratos can find Atlas' face, he's going to have to do a bit of climbing. Doomed tp forever bear the world on his shoulders, Atlas is the level, and Kratos will need to delve through his cavern-like veins and glide across the massive chains that hold the Titan in place.
Once that's through, it's time for a playable confrontation with Atlas, during which time you'll need to prevent him from squishing Kratos between his colossal fingers. It's a rare experience, being told off by a whole level, and we've never played through another stage that made us feel quite this tiny and insignificant. Filled with "whoa, wait, is that massive cliff actually Atlas' hand/cheekbone/armpit?" moments, the sheer scale of this level is one of the singular most impressive things the PS2 ever managed to pull off.
GoldenEye 007 (N64) | The Aztec level
This extra-tough, Moonraker-inspired, unlocked-after-you-beat-the-game bonus level was especially memorable for two reasons: first, because it let you get your hands on an ultra-powerful laser pistol for the first time, and second because OH SHIT IT'S JAWS WITH TWO MACHINEGUNS AIIIIGH GET AWAY GET AWAY GET AWAY oh cool he's dead.
Gradius V (PS2) | Asteroids!
There's no shortage of shooter stages in this list, that's for sure. Makes sense, seeing as they usually only have five or so levels at all, so they've gotta make 'em count. Gradius V's asteroid-packed level is already hard, forcing you to weave your way through some ridiculously dense fields. Then, to top it all off, the boss makes you literally carve a path through hundreds of incoming obstacles while simultaneously avoiding all the crap it's shooting at you. Intense, insane, incredible.
GTA: San Andreas (PS2, Xbox, PC) | Breaking the Bank at Caligula's
Grand Theft Auto missions are famous, not only for their sheer, overwhelming quantity, but also for their incredible diversity. Games that are supposed to be about stealing cars have somehow expanded to include anything from pimping prostitutes to hijacking military fighter jets in midair.
San Andreas has the best of these wild and wonderful missions... and this is our favorite. The final mission of Las Venturas - a casino heist that CJ spends nearly 1/3 of the game planning - has everything. Gun fights. High speed chases. Explosions. Disguises. Night vision. Sabotage. Betrayal. Forklifts. And at the end, you get to base jump off the top of a fifty-story building, parachuting over the neon-lit city as SWAT helicopters try to keep a spotlighted bead on you.
This stuff is worthy of a summer blockbuster.
Half-Life (PC, PS2) | Unforeseen Consequences
Okay, so you accidentally (maybe) caused an explosion that opened a dimensional rift and let aliens invade. Things can only get better, right? You regain consciousness in your special, armored hazmat suit and begin to survey the wreckage around you, collecting now-legendary moments along the way.
A pipe crumbles before you, revealing your first – but not last - headcrab. You duck under errant lasers and find a crowbar, using it to smash through a glass door. You team up with a security guard named Barney, beset by zombies. Blue arcs of electricity sizzle through a computer room that explodes as you pass through it. You watch helplessly through a window as a scientist is attacked by a headcrab. Down the hall, a flickering computer screen illuminates a second man, shuddering and writhing as a mounted headcrab zombifies him.
Whether they were non-interactive moments that heightened the atmosphere or very interactive moments that kept the player constantly on edge, most of these elements were new to the gaming world then. And first-person shooters haven’t been the same since.
Half-Life 2 (PC, 360, PS3) | "We Don't Go To Ravenholm..."
In a game as superbly made as Half-Life 2, it's almost impossible to pin a single section that proves just how awesome and ground-breaking Valve's masterpiece is. So we won't bother. Instead, we'll focus on the chapter that gave us the most unbridled balls-out pleasure - the stunning mix of dark horror, hilarious violence and riotous fun with physics that is the zombie-infested wasteland of Ravenholm.
Eerie from the beginning, Ravenholm is an exercise in how atmosphere and subtle design elevates a videogame into the 10/10 zone. The newly-acquired Gravity Gun immediately becomes an extension of your FPS arsenal in a way that's so natural you can't imagine being without it. And yet, Valve doesn't force the Gravity Gun's abilities on you. It just preps the area, and lets you find out for yourself: "Oh, look, that zombie's been eviscerated by a razor sharp saw blade. "ZAP! " Oh, now I'm carrying the sawblade. " ZZZING! " God! I can fire the sawblade!"
Match this exhilarating ad-hoc action with a lunatic co-star (Father Gregori) and his fantastic zombie-killing contraptions, the introduction of the truly terrifying poison headcrabs - which emit a noise sure to send any Half-Life 2 fan into a shaking fit - and a brilliant finale face-off against wall-climbing super-fast zombies, and you've got one of the greatest levels ever made.
